


Victory Lap

by Neery



Series: The Champion [2]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: M/M, Misunderstandings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-07
Updated: 2019-02-07
Packaged: 2019-10-24 01:32:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17695067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neery/pseuds/Neery
Summary: Rumble was gonna have to warn Megatron.





	Victory Lap

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Spatz for betaing!
> 
> \---
> 
> “Well, then,” Megatron said, and looked at Prime. “I believe we’ll see you then.”
> 
> “We’ll be here,” Prime said softly, and for scrap’s sake, his optics were _literally shining._ What was wrong with Autobots, seriously. - Champion, by Astolat

Prowl and Ironhide descended on Optimus like a swarm of worried nursery drones as soon as the door to the conference room opened. Megatron shook his head and decided to leave them to it. Thankfully none of _his_ mechs imagined he needed minding, so they'd all decamped as soon as Megatron had dismissed them from the conference room. 

"Oh, hey, you're all right, hey," Rumble said, emerging from the small alcove where he'd been hiding. 

Megatron paused. There was a tone of genuine relief in Rumble's voice. 

"I am. Were you waiting for me, Rumble?"

"No! Yeah, I mean, no, only the others came out all 'Meeting cancelled, Optimus wants to talk to Megatron alone,' and I'm like, hellooo, do none of you see the problem here?" Rumble's hands were clenching and unclenching by his side.

Megatron looked down at him, bemused. The thought seemed somewhat ludicrous, but…"Were you _worried_?"

"No! I know you can take care of yourself. Obviously. But you're okay, though? He didn't do nothing to you?" Rumble cast an anxious sideways glance up at Megatron, and then blurted, before Megatron even had time to respond, "Only he's been looking at you so weird. Prime, I mean."

"Has he." Megatron hoped his voice didn't give away how baffled he was by this whole situation. _Rumble_ had been worried about him? Over Optimus? 

Rumble nodded wildly. "Yeah! Obviously. I mean, the others all say they don't see it, but he keeps looking at you with his optics all shiny, and it's, like, _so_ obvious he wants up your ports. Uh. Sorry. He does, though." He gave Megatron another anxious sideways glance. 

Primus. It seemed that once again he had to credit Rumble, of all mechs, with previously unsuspected powers of observation. Megatron had no idea what his face was doing; Rumble looked even more nervous now. He didn't let that _stop_ him, mind. "You're okay?"

Optimus had been looking at him? Optimus had been looking at him enough that _Rumble_ noticed?

Some dangerously unwise part of his processor wanted to gloat, as if this was a _good_ thing in any way. This whole situation with Optimus had been an enormous lapse of judgment. He'd managed to exist with his unfortunate attraction to Optimus for millions of years without doing anything stupid, and now he'd thrown all that out of the window just because Optimus had looked back at him once. 

If he had any sense, he'd write the whole incidence off as a one-time mistake, never to be repeated. He'd already given ground on things he'd not been planning to give up without a lot more negotiation, and made some concessions he hadn't planned to make at all—just because he'd liked the way Optimus had been looking at him. Because he'd wanted Optimus to keep looking at him that way a little longer. 

Intolerable. 

And the worst thing was, Megatron already wanted to do it again. 

Rumble was still watching him nervously. He'd come to wait for Megatron in the corridor with Ironhide and Prowl: a tiny determined protection detail of one against three mechs, even though he didn't come up to the knee of the smallest of them. Because he'd been worried about _Megatron_. 

"What _would_ you have done if I hadn't been all right?" Megatron asked, bemused. 

"Kicked his ass, obviously." Rumble raised his arm, imaginary blaster pointed. "Blam! Blam! Right in the optics!"

Optimus, who'd finally managed to shake off Prowl and Ironhide, chose that moment to join them, although not, thankfully, in time to overhear any of their conversation. As soon as he came closer, Rumble shifted to _physically put himself between the two of them_ , glaring, for all the world like he didn't care that Optimus could've crushed him under his treads without even trying. Primus. If a few more of his mechs had that kind of courage, this war might've ended a lot sooner, and in a very different way.

Optimus looked confused to find himself at the receiving end of such obvious hostility. After a moment, he visibly rallied. 

"Hello, Rumble!" he said with a pointedly bright smile. "Megatron was just telling me how much he liked your new song."

That was _not_ what he'd said, and he didn't appreciate Optimus using his admission to score points off Megatron's own people. 

"You did?" Rumble forgot himself enough to almost turn his back on Optimus as he looked up at Megatron in anxious hope.

"I _said_ I liked the poetry. The _music_ , if that's what you want to call it, got stuck in a loop in my active memory for an hour and a half," Megatron said sternly. 

Rumble visibly deflated. "That's all right. I know it's not for everyone." 

Megatron suppressed a sigh. He wasn't here to coddle anyone's feelings, and the only reason he cared at all about the disappointed slump of Rumble's shoulders was that his emotional coprocessor was clearly still addled from interface. "It wasn't intolerable," he allowed. 

_Optimus_ was glaring at him now, pointedly, as if Rumble's feelings were any of _his_ business whatsoever, but Rumble, who wasn't an Autobot and therefore didn't need a compliment spelled out in sappy words, was already perking up again. 

"I thought maybe you'd be angry I was using the human poetry. But there's some humans who've been coming to the dance parties. They do neat stuff sometimes," he said, giving Megatron a cautious look.

"I think at this point we can admit that the fleshlings produce worthwhile works once in a while," Megatron said drily. 

And on that note, he had some Seekers to go and traumatize. Starscream wouldn't like the idea of an alliance with the humans. He thought they were disgusting. That was obviously true, of course, what with the constant shedding and leaking. But a warrior couldn't afford to be squeamish. 

An alliance only made sense, anyway. It had nothing to do with Optimus' feelings on the matter. In fact, Megatron was going to have to put some distance between them before Rumble ended up putting any more rumors into the world—

_Will I see you tonight?_ Optimus sent him, on a private channel. Tone didn't transmit very clearly on encrypted communication; he might be imagining the hopeful note in Optimus' voice.

_My duty cycle ends at 2200_ , he sent back, before he turned and rapidly walked away. 

He was halfway down the corridor when he got a ping from Rumble. _Don't look now, but he's doing it again. Staring at you with his optics all shiny. Total creeparoid._

With his back to everyone else, in the privacy of the empty corridor, Megatron allowed himself a smile. 

 

THE END


End file.
